I want to cook Indian and Pakistani food - but can't spend the time to cook everything the traditional way.

Question

Are there some "starter dishes" thatI can cook with a slow cooker (ie a crock pot) or with a pressure cooker? how do I modify other recipes to cook in one or the other?

Answer 1

Nowadays, you can really cheat with most of the Indian recipes. You can buy ready made: masalas (spice mixtures) in powders, pastes, sauces...



Use pre-made ginger/garlic pastes, canned beans/lentils, frozen peas, ready made Indian paneer.



All of these items are readily available in any Indian store or even large supermarkets (in big cities).



Dont apologize for taking a few shortcuts! If you are handy with a pressure cooker, that's the fast way: daals, curries, non veg, potatoes....



Easy starter dishes:



Chhole (curries chickpeas, use cans!)

Mattar Paneer (peas & paneer, use ready made paneer and frozen peas)

Tandoori chicken: marinate chicken in yoogurt using ready made tandoori masala/paste and grill or broil.

Raita: Indian yogurt salad



GREAT WEBSITE:



http://www.bellaonline.com/site/indianfood



http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art19129.asp



http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art22852.asp



http://www.bellaonline.com/ArticlesP/art24401.asp



http://www.recipezaar.com/82641



http://www.recipedelights.com/recipes/raita/cucumberraita.htm

Answer 2

Hi Dear,

Here is a quick one. Lemon chicken can be prepared in 5 minutes. In a pressure cooker, put about 1 kg chicken, 4 medium size lemons' juice, salt and pepper to taste and put the cooker on gas for 5 minutes. No need to add any oil or spices. You will relish it. Gravy will be very tasty, which you can have with a couple of bread slices.

Enjoy!

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Answer 3

Indian-Spiced Chicken Salad



* Prep Time -

* Cook Time -

* Serves 4



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1. Ingredients



1. 1 tablespoon coriander seeds

2. 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin seeds

3. 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

4. 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds

5. 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

6. 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

7. 2 tablespoons tawny port

8. 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

9. Pinch of ground turmeric

10. Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

11. 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

12. 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

13. 1 shallot, minced

14. 1/4 pound green beans

15. 8 cups torn Boston lettuce leaves

16. 1 large ripe red papaya, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks

17. 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

18. 1/3 cup roasted cashews, chopped



Nutrition Info



Per Serving



* Calories: 433 kcal

* Carbohydrates: 19 g

* Dietary Fiber: 4 g

* Fat: 26 g

* Protein: 29 g

* Sugars: 6 g



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2. Cooking Directions



1. In a small skillet, toast the whole spices over moderate heat for 1 minute. Let cool completely, then coarsely grind.

2. In a large, shallow baking dish, mix 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons of the ground spices with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the port, garlic, turmeric, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Add the chicken breasts and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

3. Mix the remaining ground spices with the lemon juice, shallot and the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

4. In a saucepan of boiling salted water, cook the green beans for 3 minutes. Drain and refresh under cold water. Pat dry and cut into 2-inch lengths.

5. Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. Remove the chicken breasts from the marinade; discard the garlic. Grill the chicken over moderately high heat until cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Let rest for 5 minutes, then cut in to 1 1/2-inch chunks.

6. In a large bowl, toss the lettuce with the papaya, tomatoes, green beans, chicken and the dressing. Sprinkle with the cashews and serve.



Yield: 4 servings

Answer 4

What about lentils/dal? that is quite simple to do and hardly takes 30 mins for the entire process in the pressure cooker. Just have it with some basmati rice..Its delicious. Dal chawal is the best! Soak some split skinned masoor dal.. its the pinkish colored ones..that have been halfed..if they are the whole ones they should cook about twice as long. especially if they have the skin still on..which in that case they will look grayish black. Soak the 3/4 cup split masoor for about 20 mins.. if its whole masoor (with skin) then about an hour at least.

Meanwhile, heat about two tbl of oil in a saucepan or wok/kadai on high heat..Add a deseeded slit green chili..and cook it in the oil letting the chili release all its flavor then add a heaping tsp of cumin seeds, and a big pinch of asafoetida/hing.

take one onion chopped, add it and cook until almost brown, then add 1 inch piece of minced ginger and 3 cloves garlic and continue cooking until onion is brown..Now add a half tsp turmeric/haldi one tsp. coriander pwd/dhaniya and one tsp cumin pwd/jeera and fry it for about fifteen seconds. add two chopped roma tomatoes and cook them until they are pulpy. Your tadka is done..set it aside for now.

Pressure cook your soaked dal on high heat for about 4-6 mins if you are using the split masoor dal, and about 10 mins if you are using the whole. Before you shut the lid on the on the dal, rinse it well, until the water runs clear, add a half tsp salt and enough water to the pot that it covers your dal by about two inches.. No more, then put on high heat..when the water starts to boil, there will be some foam that raises up from the dal, remove that with a spoon and put on the lid..cook as needed. .

As soon as the cooking time is done, set your pressure cooker aside and reheat the tadka that you made earlier..as soon as its hot and bubbly again, add your cooked dal, and all the water inside. mix it all together and just simmer for about five minutes together. At the end add a handful of fresh chopped cilantro and a 1/2 tsp garam masla if you like. Eat it immediately..It tastes best with a spoon of clarified butter/ghee and a few pieces of raw onion if you like.



It may seem daunting at first, but tthats only because its new.. once you do it a few times,..it goes very fast.. The thing that takes the longest, is all the mincing, chopping, and dicing of the ingredients. This same thing can be done in a slow cooker.. Just set the dal to cooking in the morning, and in the evening after about 6 hours just prepare the tadka and add it to the dal thats in your crockpot. The tadka takes about ten minutes in total. Btw, sometimes I add a few precooked potatoe chunks the dal to make some delish, aloo dal.

which would be better for rotis, chapati, paratha, naan, pita..etc. Happy cooking!

Answer 5

A fantastic and easy way to get a true authentic curry quickly is to buy Pataks curry paste. It come in a jar and will make up to 5 curries.

All you do is chop and soften onions, cube meat or chicken. Fry off with onions. Add a good table spoon of paste. Mix well. Add tin chopped tomatoes. stir and simmer for as long as you want.At least an hour.

I turn mine off take the lid off and let it cool. The heat it up again. It is a gorgeous texture and great to eat with rice or chapatis.

Answer 6

I am not from India, but I've been cooking Indian food for years, following cookbooks. Most recipes are very time-intensive, but I found a solution. There is a line of Indian sauces called Patak's. You can get the jars of sauce in ethnic grocery stores, but recently our generic grocery stores in Milwaukee started stocking them. Saute your meat, throw in the sauce, simmer for a couple of hours (or use your crockpot), and boil some rice-- you're done! To my tastes it is quite authentic. I've sampled most of Patak's sauce varieties, and they've all been good. My husband likes to add dark-brown sauteed onions to the sauce prior to cooking.

Answer 7

Yes!

http://www.recipesource.com/main-dishes/crockpot/05/rec0501.html

http://recipes.epicurean.com/recipe/21994/east-indian-cheese-logs.html

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Indian-Cuisine-759/slow-cookers-crock-pots.htm